El Mehdi Beach Resort

We visited this lovely hotel at the end of May Check in was quick and was given all the information needed and pointed in the direction of the restaurant for food as we arrived late Our room was on the ground floor and perfect for getting to everything We spent our days relaxing in the gardens just steps from the amazing beach I’m an early riser so would get coffee from the restaurant and head to the blue restaurant over looking the beach, perfect start to the day and the night security man would always pull a chair out for me and wish me good morning Every single member of staff we met was lovely from the gardening staff to security, always happy to say hello Ali Baba and the guys selling trips are great, we explained we were just relaxing and we didn’t get asked again but every day they would come and say hello and ask how the Welsh family was, they didint have to , lovely people Our housekeeper was Ahmed Braiek, nothing was too much trouble and what a happy man he was , We enjoyed all the food and enjoyed lunch at the Blue Restaurant every day We look forward to returning

Food was ok but variety was lacking compared to other hotels we stayed in this country 2 single beds in room had been turned into sofas 1 on each side, which I thought was useful & made the room feel better The cleaner had not refilled the shower dispenser so no soap/shampoo in the shower!  It was made very clear in this hotel that 2 senior staff in the dinning hall would give extra preference to some female guests! All the other hotel staff were nice apart from the staff from outside, example; selling you tours, jewellery or the spa woman were all over doing it trying to get your money which had a negative effect on our stay here The man that takes your bags to room was giving a tip, yet immediately after we gave it to him he made a comment something about  "you are from the UK",  we read into this as if to say so we should had tipped more then, as he didnt say thank you either Not even chairs outside so we had to sit on a low down wall, sunbeds seemed very old

We have just got back from a weeks stay at El Mehdi, Mahdia. We had a lovely time but the hotel unfortunately fell very short. Pros: - Really nice and clean rooms with relatively comfortable beds - Beautiful beachfront location - Lovely hotel grounds that are clean and well maintained and look like the pictures - Mostly friendly staff - Nice pool - Good shop on site that has all you might need, as well as the typical holiday tat Cons: - Our room was directly opposite an amphitheater. When we arrived we were told it was having some work done, however it must have been completed super quickly as there were events there on 5 out of the 7 nights we spent there. It was incredibly loud - ridiculously so, as if there was an actual concert taking place in our room. It was so frustrating and unbelievably annoying, and went on for several hours until around 11pm - we had absolutely no chance of getting to sleep when we wanted to. We aren’t party animals, we are knackered by 9pm and just want to sleep but we couldn’t. The night before we were due to fly home the show ended at 11pm but the animation team practiced until 1am with music on! We had an early flight and an alarm set for 4am so this was incredibly frustrating - There are lots cockerels that wander the grounds immediately outside our room that crowed from around 3am until the afternoon and woke us up every morning without fail. Added to the fact that we couldn’t get to sleep due to the very loud events at the amphitheater, we did not have the restful break we went for. - The air con in the room was terrible / pointless so we slept with the doors open if needed, though it just made it impossible to not be woken by the cockerels - We asked to move rooms, and was told that we would need to come to reception the following day as the hotel was full that night. We did just that and were told the same thing again. It got to the point where we were getting different answers from different staff at reception to the same question and it was obvious we weren’t going to be allowed to move rooms so we gave up asking and just had to deal with the absolutely ridiculous level of noise. Really poor service from reception staff in this regard - The outdoor seating is nice but there are not enough tables and chairs to cater for the size of the hotel and the number of guests, yet there is so much outdoor space where more tables and chairs could be added. Most nights we would not be able to get a seat at all and would end up having to come back to our very loud room to try and relax - The sun beds on the beach are mostly cracked/broken and uncomfortable - they use blue plastic pads on the beds which become ridiculously hot in the sun so you can’t sit on/touch them! There are not enough of them either so if you want to get out onto the beach then you need to go and put your towels down early doors - Whether on the beach or actually in the hotel you will be approached by men trying to sell you jewellery, cigarettes, camel rides etc - it is relentless and quite irritating - The drink selection is poor. Undrinkable wine and some basic local spirits on offer, and not much more, not even branded spirits or cocktails to buy, which I would have been happy to do. There is a cocktail on the menu but it is literally just called “cocktail” and it’s made up by the bartender on the spot - it is different every time! I’d have killed for an iced coffee or a glass of Prosecco - The WiFi is terrible - you can only get signal in the main reception or immediate surrounding areas. No WiFi in our room - Cable TV in rooms was advertised but it wasn’t cable - only a few basic channels, one English speaking channel. Not the end of the world but not what was promised. - Shower was terrible. Barely a dribble and the temperature went from hot to cold every few seconds - Food was ok but repetitive and bland. - Maid attended ridiculously early at just before 8am one morning when we were just getting ready to go out, she knocked but immediately opened the door whilst we were stood naked! - Horrible little kids ran around the hallways and knocked on doors, including ours, most nights and ran away - not the hotels fault of course but just another example of why you should not come here if a bit of R&R is what you are after. We did have a nice week in lots of ways, the weather was gorgeous and the beach was beautiful. Unfortunately the accommodation was just not as advertised and if I could go back in time and pick a different hotel I would. I could have lived with most of our grievances to be honest, but the fact that we had the amphitheater right outside our room with no warning about the shows that would be going on there, with absolutely NO consideration for the guests on that side of the hotel, and with no option but just to put up with it - it just really ruined our whole experience and we came home from our “relaxing” break less rested than we arrived. We will never come here again, couldn’t pay me.

I stayed at the el Mehdi hotel between 20th may 2026- 27th may 2026 the view was stunning the room was 50/50 the shower kept going boiling hot then freezing cold and leaking out of the shower head , there was also water leaking out of the bidet. Our fridge worked fine but if it was on less then 5 then nothing in the fridge would be cold but if we had it on 7 some of the stuff in the fridge would freeze and form like ice glaciers inside the bottles and made a annoying humming noise but apart from that the room was good. However the entertainment people were really friendly especially Leo and Rayen there was a lot of variety of activities like aqua gym, waterpolo, volleyball, darts, salsa and ping pong. They always were kind and respectful to all guests and liked having fun with everybody (they love their job). The entertainment staff always treated you like a family member or friend and was always sad to see people leave. One or two nights, one during the week one on a weekend they have a disco like night which consists of music and dancing it’s really good however if you have younger children it might be difficult to get them to sleep as it finishes around 12am (midnight). The food in our opinion wasn’t good. There wasn’t a lot of variety especially for picky eaters or younger children and most of the fruit wasn’t ripe or like the strawberries , were flavourless and mushy. The pasta from the pasta station was chewy and the rice every time we had it was hard and chewy. The quality of the food for the price of the hotel was definitely not worth it at all. Most nights it would consist of fried fish which we was nervous to eat as they was serving RAW chicken (we spoke to another couple here who also was served raw chicken a couple days before we arrived.) We showed the pizza making chef the raw chicken and he even said one minute and rushed to get the head chef as even he could see it was pink and raw. When the head chef came out he tried telling us the pink was from rosemary and it was not raw at all and we was wrong. The head chef was very disrespectful and rude telling us we was crazy and delusional for thinking we had raw chicken. The pizza chef even said himself that the head chef doesn’t care and is an ignorant person. We did not expect this level of abuse and disrespect for commenting something was raw. If you go here always check your meat before you eat it. Also, not to mention the fact that the drinks we had from the fruit juice machine were so concentrated they were barely drinkable they was so strong and even watered down they tasted funny, the pineapple juice especially had a weird aftertaste. The fizzy drinks were always flat because they put some drink out a machine, shaked it in a bottle at the bar and gave it in your drink. We tried two alcoholic drinks one being a strawberry daiquiri which was nowhere near one but it tasted OK. But the vodka coke had a mould aftertaste and the beer was completely flat and had no head. Another slight downside is that the excursion crew would try force excursions on you even if you said no multiple times forcibly. Also there was a camera man which we do not know the name to who works at the hotel and he took a picture unconsentionally of me and my girlfriend and a couple had told us they wanted engagement photos taken with him however, the camera man turned around and said now it’s the woman’s turn after 3 photos of them together and he said that he wanted her to do sexy pictures in a bikini. The couple also told us that he had pushed her over in daylight and was demanding money. However our favourite man who came around made beautiful custom jewellery that is both beautiful and affordable, me and my partner got custom rings with our names in Arabic and love hearts which for 2 came altogether to £60, he was also lovely and didn’t try force business onto you which we loved, his name was Lamshade and he was absolutely lovely and a really kind man. Even after we brought our rings he would come ask us everyday how we was and if we was enjoying our holiday. Overall we don’t think we will be returning even tho it’s a lovely place to enjoy the beautiful weather and it has nice pools and views but for us personally the negatives are too much more than the positives. It’s unfortunate about the negatives as the hotel has a lot of potential however most the staff themselves are absolutely lovely and kind people. Also the extraction fan and pipe work on top of the building was disgusting hadn’t looked like it had been cleaned in a few years , 5-6 years give or take as someone who worked in fan engineering I wouldn’t be eating here again as it is disgusting and could drop into your food. In the food hall as everyone was eating there was flies everywhere all flying around peoples heads plates and drinks even landing on the food.

Very good location close to the beach, atmosphere is brilliant the animation team , Sonia Leo Chicago Ryan And all the team was very friendly made us feel so welcome and we will be definitely will be definitely returning The room was brilliant big bed and nice and clean